Types Of Work Visas

H-1B visa – person in specialty occupation: This visa requires a bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience in a specialty occupation. Examples of “specialty” occupations include the engineering, medical, architecture and legal fields. H-1B visas are capped at 65,000 per year, with an additional 20,000 for applicants with master’s degrees. In order to be added through this lottery cap for visas, your employer must prove that they are unable to find an adequate source of skill to fulfill their open job within the U.S. workforce. An H-1B visa will last for three years, with a possible extension to six years, before the worker must return to their country of origin for at least a year before being eligible to reapply for another H-1B visa. An H-1B attorney can help you.

H-2A visa – temporary or seasonal agricultural worker: A U.S. employer must file a petition for a nonimmigrant worker on behalf of the prospective temporary agricultural worker.

H-2B visa – temporary or seasonal nonagricultural worker: This visa allows U.S. employers to bring on temporary non-agricultural laborers for a one-time occurrence or for recurring seasonal work. Common industries that sponsor these visas include landscaping, forest management, sports trainers and athletes, concierge and tourism services, entertainers and food services. The H-2B visa allows the visa holder to stay for a maximum duration of three years before they need to leave for at least three months before they are allowed to reapply to the program again. In order to qualify for an H-2B visa, you must have a job offer from a U.S. company that has already petitioned the U.S. government for permission to hire non-U.S. workers, you must be able to do the job you were offered and you must intend to leave at the end of your visa.

H-3 visa – trainee or special education visitor: This visa is designed to let people enter the United States to receive training that would not be available elsewhere.

L-1 visa – manager or executive of an international company: A company that has offices in the U.S. and abroad can petition for an L-1 visa to bring an executive from one of their foreign offices to work in the U.S.

TN visa – North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) professionals who are citizens of Mexico or Canada: A citizen of Mexico or a national of Canada can obtain a TN status to live and work in the U.S. for up to three years with renewal options that can be repeated indefinitely. In order to qualify for a TN visa, the applicant must be a qualified professional, such as a lawyer, engineer, scientist or educator; they must have full- or part-time work already arranged with a U.S. company; and the position must, by necessity, need a NAFTA professional. Unlike most other employment visas, a TN visa does not require employer sponsorship.

B-1 visa – domestic employees: This visa allows employers to bring cooks, nannies or other domestic workers along with them when they enter the United States.